Headcanon explanation for Junior Blaine
by BloodRedLust
Summary: Just trying to make some sense of the mess RIB created when they blatantly changed Blaines age on the show...


**Headcanon for why Blaine is a Junior**

**For Sami, my fellow DC street teamer - using her prompt/idea for why Blaine is a Junior. Just trying to make some sense of the mess RIB have created. I hope you like it honey.**

**Rated T  
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I set my lunch tray down on the long table and slid in beside Britt. Since the food fight last week, I had actually taken to enjoying my lunch in private with Blaine at a small table by the windows, but today he wouldn't be joining me. His careers interview with Miss Pillsbury had run late, so I decided to risk having lunch in the Caf with my friends, but I had already sworn to myself that I would make a run for it at the first signs of a lunchtime flashmob.

Mercedes smiled toothlessly at me around her mouthful of tots and raised an eyebrow as she looked around, noticing my missing boyfriend. I answered her unspoken question while she finished her mouthful.

"He's still talking to Miss Pillsbury. He wanted to see if there is any way they would let him skip ahead a year or take extra classes so that he can graduate with me."

Half the table either just nodded or murmured something in understanding, but Mercedes gave me a confused look.

"I don't get it, Kurt. I thought Blaine was older than you."

I nodded. "Yeah, he is. By nearly six months."

"So why is he a junior then? Shouldn't he be a senior like the rest of us?"

I sighed, well aware that the whole table was eagerly awaiting my answer to Mercedes' question. Not that I could blame them; I would be curious too if the situation was reversed, but I didn't really feel like it was my story to tell.

_I had held both of Blaine's hands gently in mine as they rested on the table top at Breadstix after he told me the story of the Sadie Hawkins dance, but I just knew there was so much more that he was holding back. _

_Yet it wasn't until he drove me home that night after our date that I questioned him about it. He avoided my eyes as soon as I asked, and just from that I knew I had been right. While I didn't want to push him, I also wanted him to know that he could tell me anything. I wanted him to open up to me._

_I'd known since I started at Dalton that Blaine was in a grade lower than me despite being older, but the only explanation he'd given me was 'I repeated.' I didn't realise it at that moment, but I was about to get the reason why._

"_Kurt, when those guys beat the crap out of Ben and me, they didn't hold back." _

_His voice was shaky and low, but I didn't interrupt. I just squeezed his fingers to show my support. _

"_Ben finally managed to get away, and he ran to get help, but by the time help got there, I was unconscious. I was in a coma for six days, Kurt."_

_He looked so small and fragile as he sat closed in on himself as he relayed the story of the most painful moments in his life. His eyes met mine, and I could tell that he knew that I understood. _

"_Even after I got out of hospital, I was still so scared. It took me months to get over it enough to be able to even leave the house on my own, let alone go back to school. So I never got to finish my sophomore year, and when I enrolled at Dalton the following August, they suggested I repeat. My dad agreed - I didn't really have a say in it - but then I met Wes and David, and Jeff and Trent, and they welcomed me in to the Warblers with open arms..."_

_His eyes lit up a little as he recalled the friends he made and the acceptance he felt at Dalton, and his beautiful grin as he finished the rest of the story was contagious, making me smile through my own tears._

"_...and I saw it as a blessing that I got to have an extra year with those guys, so I didn't complain about being older than everyone else in my year. In fact, I didn't have a problem with it at all until I realised that you were a year ahead of me, and you were going to graduate before me and go off and start exploring the wonders of the world, leaving me behind." _

_I had pulled him into my arms then, kissing away the pain and making promises for the future together that we would have regardless of the obstacles that we had to face. I told him that even if I did go off to college a year before him, it would only be a year. I would wait for him to catch up with me before I did anything important._

The tapping of a fork on the table brought me back to the present. I shook off the haze of the memory and met the eyes of my friends, who were all staring at me curiously and waiting for me to explain. I realised then that I couldn't tell them anything substantial without betraying Blaine's trust, and I would never do that.

Not for anyone... not even my best friends.

"He..." I hesitated, glancing around the table and ending at Pucks curious gaze. "He had to repeat Sophomore year. It's not a big deal."

Puck just nodded, immediately turning back to his conversation with Mike, and the table quickly filled with chatter again. Only Mercedes' eyes were still on me, I could feel her stare, and when I glanced up to look at her she gave me a small, sympathetic smile, and a wink. I returned the gesture, and reached across the table to squeeze her hand.

Some things, my girl just _knew. _


End file.
